VoIP Basics

VoIP Basics

What Is VoIP?

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. In simple words, this means that when you make a call to someone by a VoIP phone, your voice is carried over internet, instead of the regular cable lines. When the other person replies to you, his/her voice reaches you by internet in the same way.

In this way VoIP is a telephone connection that uses internet instead of the regular telephone network.

How VoIP Works

When you call someone by a VoIP telephone, your voice (analog) signals are converted into digital signals which travel over the internet. These digital signals are converted back into voice (analog) signals at the other end and heard as normal voice by the person you call.

This may sound as yet another way to send and receive voice signals much like the normal telephone network. But it has certain advantages:

When you talk over a VoIP connection, you are using internet instead of the telephone cables. Therefore you don't have to pay for the charges of a telephone company.
When you talk to somebody, the other person listens to what you say and then replies. Then you remain silent and listen.
In this way there are always silent patches during any conversation. On a normal telephone network, these 'silent patches' are also carried over the cable lines for which you have to pay the charges.
This is because the traditional network cannot tell the difference between useful transmission of voice and useless "silent patches". But the VoIP does. It cuts out useless parts by Packet Switching, saving you unnecessary charges.

How Packet Switching Saves You Money

Packet Switching is a system that allows the VoIP to carry the useful voice data in form of packets and transmits them, one at a time, to the other end.

This means that only useful voice part is transmitted over the internet and the useless silence part is left out. During a VoIP call, the connection between two parties of a call opens only when a packet is sent or received. This naturally makes for a lot of savings in the bandwidth usage.

In this way Packet Switching has a distinct advantage over the traditional telephone connection which remains open all the time a conversation goes on.

It is because of the efficient use of bandwidth resources by packet switching that cheap VoIP service is possible. This is the main reason how the VoIP providers can offer you various VoIP solutions free or almost free.

Related Page:
VoIP solutions